From extreme weather events wreaking havoc on networks, to the global pandemic that saw the world change overnight, 2020 might just take the cake for “unprecedented times”. While the energy industry was presented with many challenges over the year, we also achieved so much, including the development of a hydrogen industry down under, further growth in renewable energy, and massive budget allocations for the industry at the state and federal level.
Here, we take a look back at five of 2020’s most read news stories.
In August, AGL and the New South Wales Government lodged a scoping report for a grid-scale battery system to be located alongside the existing plant at Liddell Power Station.
The Liddell Battery is part of the 850MW multi-site integrated battery system AGL targets to develop by FY24, as announced in its FY20 Results.
In September, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a funding boost of $1.9 billion over ten years for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
In addition, Mr Morrison also revealed plans to change the rules around investment of funds from ARENA and the CEFC. .The plans included new legislation which would allow ARENA to invest in technologies to lower emissions outside of wind and solar.
In October, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered the long-awaited 2020-21 Budget.
The Budget allocated almost $2.5 billion to the energy industry and earmarked the gas sector to play a pivotal role in Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19.
Also in October, Infinite Blue Energy Group (IBE) partnered up with international energy services provider Petrofac to deliver its landmark green hydrogen project, Arrowsmith, as the project moved towards the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase.
The FEED phase will support the Final Investment Decision (FID) of the $350 million project in 2021.
In March, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were being felt all over the world, with countries in lockdown, positive diagnoses increasing and major shocks to economies, including Australia’s.
Energy kept a close eye on the developments and changes, including the impacts on the economy and the energy industry as they arose.
